Lord Nityananda appeared in the village of Ekachakra, in West Bengal, India, around 1474. In the Caitanya Caritamrita He is declared to be the avatar of Lord Balarama, the direct expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. His father was Hadai Pandit and mother, Padmavati Devi.

As a child He was called Nitai and had a close circle of friends. Together they used to imitate the pastimes of Krishna and His associates. For His first twelve years, Nityananda Prabhu stayed in Ekachakra and shared loving pastimes with His neighbours.

Just before His thirteenth birthday, a traveling mendicant came to His home and said he needed a traveling companion and young Nitai would be an appropriate person for such a service. Nitai was eager, and reluctantly, Hadai Pandita agreed to let his son go.

Nitai travelled from holy place to holy place for the next twenty years, until He was thirty-two, receiving instruction and friendship from His elderly sannyasi companion. He more and more took on the character of an avadhuta, a spiritually elevated person who is aloof to material surroundings.

Nityananda Prabhu reached the land of Nadiya, where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu resided. When the two Lords finally saw each other for the first time, they were immediately overtaken by waves of ecstasy. Nitai was roughly thirty-two years old, and Mahaprabhu was twenty.

From this point until Mahaprabhu left Navadvipa for Jagannatha Puri, Nityananda Prabhu was always at His side. When Lord Chaitanya went to Jagannatha Puri, Lord Nityananda spent some time with Him there. However, the movement in Navadvipa had been sorely neglected, and so, in 1511, Mahaprabhu requested Nityananda, His most reliable sankirtana commander, to return to Bengal.

At the end of His manifest lila, Lord Nityananda returned to Ekachakra where He established a deity of Lord Krishna known as Bankima Raya, accompanied on the right by a deity of Jahnava Devi, and on the left, Srimati Radharani. The priests of this temple say that Nityananda Prabhu merged into the form of Bankima Raya to leave the earth for His eternal pastimes in the spiritual sky.

Australia Day is a national holiday and many parades are held in cities and towns across the country.

I was invited to participate in the multicultural procession by the Adelaide co TP, Adi Purusa Krsna das. The devotees brought our smaller size Jagannatha Ratha Cart from the Gold Coast to be one of the “floats” in the parade.

We chanted and danced in ecstasy before Lord Jagannatha down King William Street and the crowds showed their appreciation by waving and clapping.

I am very close to my dear godbrother, Venugopal das, since we were young brahmacaris living and travelling together in the early days of ISKCON Australia.

Venu was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few months ago and will leave his body shortly.

Upon hearing of the situation I flew from Sydney with Pratapana, Jayasri and Camari to spend time with him at his home near New Govardhan. He was in such a Krsna Conscious condition that it was extremely blissful being in his ecstatic association.

Adi Purusa Das, the TP of Canberra temple, invited me to a kirtan program on a Saturday night. Even though on that day it was nearly 40 degrees, quite a few devotees attended the evening of blissful chanting.

Apart from myself there were a few local kirtaniyas who led, such as, Gauravana das, Ananda devi dasi and Ayodhyadeva das. At the end everyone relished a wonderful feast cooked by Krsna Kirta das.